Charles PrierWriter - Insomniac - General, Know-it-All

Grover’s Cure

It was 1956, the New York Yankees won the World
Series, a first class postage stamp was three
cents, “Giant” and “The King and I” were popular
movies, “I Love Lucy” was the most popular TV
show and “The Great Pretender” was number one on
Billboard’s hit parade.

Grover Felton was an older man perhaps in his
mid-to-late 70s. He lived alone and depended
upon his sister to look in on him from time to
time. Several times a year, due to loneliness or
just feeling sorry for himself he would develop
a series of symptoms, both real and imagined,
sufficient to convince his doctor that he needed
to be admitted to the local clinic hospital for
a few days. There he had a warm bed, received
good meals and enjoyed the around-the-clock
attention of the nurses.

One evening, shortly after supper Grover started
complaining of pain in his stomach. The nurse
checked him and found nothing wrong. She offered
him a Tums and a peppermint candy. When he put
in his mouth he noticed that he didn't have his
lower teeth. He called out for the nurse and
explained “I've think I swallowed my lower
teeth. I had them when I ate supper but they're
not in my mouth now and my stomach is killing
me.”

The nurse checked to be sure his teeth were
missing and not in his denture cup. All the
while Grover’s abdominal pain got worse. Because
his uppers were in place and she didn't find his
lowers she called the doctor. The doctor said,
“If he has swallowed his teeth we can’t do
anything about that here, we will have to send
them over to Memphis. I’ll call the hospital and
tell them he is on the way; you get him ready
for transport.”

Arrangements were quickly made for an ambulance
and paramedics to transport Grover to the
Baptist Hospital in Memphis. About 20 min. into
the trip the paramedics noticed that they were
being chased by the state troopers. The troopers
pulled them over.

Grover was moaning with pain, in the back of the
ambulance. The paramedic asked, “What's wrong
we have a critical patient here that we need to
get to the hospital in Memphis why are you
stopping us?”

“We have a message for you from the hospital in
Cardwell,” said the Officer. “They told us to
tell you to bring the patient back, the nurses
found Grover's lower teeth between the sheets in
his bed.”

Upon hearing that Grover's pain immediately went
away. He was returned to the hospital and
insisted on being discharged the very next day.
Grover didn’t die of disgrace and humiliation
but he never negotiated a stay in the local
hospital again. –CP May 4, 2013

Small Town USA

A recent road trip had us passing through many small towns.
There are towns off the main road. Then there
are towns off the back road. Weldon, Arkansas is
off Highway 17 and Jackson County Road 22;
neither are main roads unless you live in
Weldon.

The homes of the 100 residents looked neat, almost
prosperous although the median annual income is
probably less than $30k. No doubt, everyone took
pride in what God had given them. No one is
struggling or living below the poverty line.

We didn’t see many people. Those we saw seemed happy,
curious, and carefree with no concern about what
is going on in Egypt or even Washington, DC.
Their crops were green and abundant. The road
was smooth. I got lost in my mind, everything
was so Peaceful and unfamiliar. I didn’t
recognize any place or the feelings I felt… but
I yearned to.

June 25, 2012

Why I like my new book

Primarily because I did it all myself; all the
stories are from my imagination and are recorded
as if I personally witnessed the story-line
images. The essays are mostly fragments of
memories, some enhanced with maybes, or
could-have-beens, born of later events or
experiences. Others are simply the result of
mental fits of anger, love, pride, or remorse
thoughtfully presented.

I did all the mechanical tasks myself; the
design, typing, layout, selecting the images and
arranging the mundane but necessary nits
associated with finally publishing. All of this
is to efficiently mark the end of a project that
has stimulated and amused me for the last few
years.

I encounter a lot of people who say they don’t
read books; that’s a shame. However, I believe
that even they would enjoy this book. I think
they would learn to find a few minutes away from
their busy lives to savor the taste of a
different perspective.